The Israeli foreign ministry began exploring ways for Israel to expand the medical assistance given to civilian casualties in Syria,, particularl those from Aleppo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Speaking to the foreign press in Israel at a New Year annual even, he declared: “We see the tragedy of terrible suffering of civilians and I’ve asked the foreign ministry to seek ways to expand our medical assistance to the civilian casualties of the Syrian tragedy,specifically in Aleppo.”

He added: “We’re prepared to take in wounded women and children, and also men if they’re not combatants. We’d like to do that: bring them to Israel, take care of them on our hospitals as we’ve done with thousands of Syrian civilians. We’re looking into ways of doing this; it’s being explored as we speak.”

Up until now, he pointed out, most of the Syrians treated in Israel were from regions close to the Golan border. Transferring the wounded from Aleppo is a much more complicated logistical issue, he said.

It is estimated that Israel has already treated around 2,600 Syrian casualties during the country’s civil war, either in field hospitals on the Israel-Syria border or in regular hospitals within Israel. The wounded Syrians arrive at the border fence, where IDF forces transport them for treatment.

Netanyahu said he does not see a resolution now for the Syrian situation. “Will it come together and be a unified Syria? I doubt it. I think you have enclaves there and they are not about to disappear, but the suffering is great, and the one initiative we took is to help – as I said – thousands of Syrians who are sometimes mutilated beyond belief. We help them. I offered to do more today. I don’t know if we can resolve [the crisis in] Syria, but we can help mitigate some of the suffering. That is the best that Israel can do.”

According to The Times of Israel, an Israeli grassroots campaign aimed at bringing emergency supplies to embattled Syrians has raised some NIS 410,0

The “Just Beyond the Border” initiative has seen thousands of Israelis purchase goods such as blankets, jackets, medicine and food that will be delivered directly to Syrians on the other side of the border.

The aid was particularly geared toward helping Syrian children.

The donated goods will be handed over to Syrians by the Israeli organization Israeli Flying Aid (IFA), which, according to their website, “specializes in bringing life-saving aid to communities affected by natural disasters and human conflict, especially where local regimes prevent entry from formal international humanitarian organizations.”